“I think we will be very successful in this league” – Levi Noel discusses signing for the Surrey Scorchers, and his experience at Loughborough University

Levi Noel is a 26 year old shooting guard who has recently signed for the Surrey Scorchers ahead of their BBL campaign.

Noel graduated from Loughborough University last term, and thanks to the University’s link with the Leicester Riders, was part of the team that won the BBL Playoff Final at the O2 Arena last season:

“It was awesome to win the BBL title after coming so close in the previous 2015/2016 season. Playing at the O2 is always an incredible experience and I hope to be back on the same stage with the Surrey Scorchers this season.”

Standing at 6″6, Noel has spent the past three seasons playing and studying at Loughborough University. He believes his game has developed greatly each year, and has set him up for a good transition in to the professional game:

“Being able to compete in the midweek BUCS competition – the highest university league in the U.K. – throughout the years has provided consistency for me to improve and develop my game allowing me to implement learnings from training with Leicester Riders and the Loughborough side.

“I give a lot of credit to coach Mark Jarram as he has had a tremendous impact on my development, specifically learning how to play team basketball and establishing my mental mind-set of how to win a championship. Under his guidance and coaching, my awareness on court, long-range shooting accuracy, shot choice and my versatility to play a number of positions has vastly improved.”

The 26 year old made his Surrey Scorchers debut at the O2 Arena on Sunday in the brand new pre-season tournament, ‘Betway All-Stars’, which included the top eight teams from the BBL in a new, 12 minute game format. With £100,000 up for grabs for the winning team, the competition was very competitive. Surrey were eliminated after losing their opening two games. Despite the early exit, Noel feels there are lots of positives to take from the teams performance:

“(The) Surrey Scorchers are a very new team and we need to get used to playing team basketball, but once we get more accustomed to each other I think that we will be very successful in this league.

“The new format was definitely a learning experience but I really enjoyed the day. It was also a bonus to see, for the first time, the top eight BBL teams in action before the season starts.”

Finally, Noel highlighted his goals for the upcoming year, and the steps he has taken to develop himself over the off-season:

“My goal is to leave my mark on the Surrey Scorchers program, much like I have with the Loughborough program.

“Over the off-season, I have done a lot of travelling. I travelled around the country to train with a number of coaches and players to adapt different workout methods and to play different competition regularly. For the first time, I took a five-week break travelling to the Caribbean and around Europe focusing more on my conditioning and prehab to enter the season fit and healthy.”

You can see Levi Noel’s home debut at Surrey Sports Park on Sunday October 15th, when the Scorchers take on the Worcester Wolves.